title: Disclosure of the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: caregivers' opinions in a Brazilian sample.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Disclosure of the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains a contentious issue, and has been little studied in developing countries.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the influence of socio-demographic factors and the experience of being a caregiver on opinion about disclosing AD diagnosis to the patient in a Brazilian sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  Caregivers of 50 AD patients together with 50 control participants that did not have the experience of being a caregiver of AD patient were interviewed using a structured questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most of the participants (73.0%) endorsed disclosure of the diagnosis, while caregivers were less prone to disclose (58.0%) than controls (88.0%; p=0.0007). Logistic regression confirmed that only the experience of being a caregiver was associated with a lesser tendency for disclosure endorsement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of participants was in favor of disclosing the diagnosis, but caregivers were less willing to disclose the diagnosis to the AD patient.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marta Maria
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Raicher
authors.forename: Daniel Yasumasa
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caramelli
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nitrini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D030881:Disclosure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult